From at least mid1960s through 1970 and possibly early 70s, zone 2 required 3 blues to qualify for Medal/Maclay finals which were both held on the same weekend at the NHS in MSG in the mid 1960s before the medal moved to Harrisburg. But other zones had different requirements, some only required 1or 2 blues. By the early 70s or thereabouts they switched to the Regional championships to help weed out the Maclay exhibitors. I think there was even a 4 blue requirement in zone 2 before they developed the regional format or maybe that was just a discussion. I was no longer a junior in the 70s so wasnât paying much attention.
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I think I remember Zone 2 requiring 4 and 4 when I was a junior, although I wonât swear to it.
I believe regionals started in 1983. It was 1982 when they held the first round at Overpeck in New Jersey on Thursday or Friday, right outside the city. Then only the top 100 from the first round got to show at the Garden on Sunday. Nobody was too happy with that approach (except maybe the winner that year, Peter Wylde), so the following year they came up with the idea of holding regionals instead of making everybody trek to the city for a first round.
Supershorty, was your mom around Westchester? The person I remember in a similar situation was in western New York. The current system is much better. I donât blame your mom one bit! :lol:
Thanks for the clarification, I couldnât remember when the regionals format was developed. And Iâm glad to hear I wasnât imagining the 4 blue requirement either.
Elli has been with Stacia since 2018 or 2017, but she was a west coast rider back maybe 4-5 years ago. Iâm not sure who she was with, if anyone, between her time in CA and then moving east. Perhaps Ken and Emily, but Iâm not sure! I saw she was with NR/Missy for this show so Iâm wondering if thatâs the recent move? She definitely rode with beacon Hill for quite a few of the recent championships.
My daughter has been homeschooling Elli and has been her companion at shows since she moved to the East Coast to train with Stacia. She is a close family friend and I love her dearly and am so proud of her. As background, she started at the famous Foxfield Riding School as a little kid and then moved to Mark Bone to do the pony hunters. When she started doing equitation she went to Karen Healy and then Tasha Visokay when Tasha took over Karenâs business. I believe either Tasha or Karen found Copper for her, but it may have been Mark. Tasha arranged for her to go to Stacia when she wanted to do WEF and compete on the East Coast. Last year she decided she needed to move somewhere with more jumper expertise, hence the move to North Run so she could do jumpers with John while also finishing her final junior equitation year with Missy.
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That is a beautiful tribute to Grappa. He was very lucky to have the same caring owner for most of his life, and that he got to enjoy a long retirement which he so well deserved.
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Copper was previously owned by another student of Karenâs (Alexis Graves) by of the end of Thermal in 2013. In very early 2013 he was owned by a consortium headed by Chris Kappler according to USEF records.
In the video from Sunday he reminded me a bit of another great chestnut equitation horse Missy used to train. I believe his name was Ivy.
Is that the one Zazou Hoffman won the Maclay on?
Thanks for the information. She seems like an incredible person. Great smile and I love how she always thanks her dad, so sweet! She has had some awesome trainers. Staciaâs program seems to produce a lot of winners!
@Peggy thanks for the background. I first met Elli (briefly) at Markâs when my daughter was getting some help from Jamie Taylor, so was unclear about when she went from the pony to Copper. I got to know her through Tasha and then she became my daughterâs student.
Yes, I believe so.
She showed a few other horses before she got Copper, but I donât know if they were hers, leases, or catch rides. But sheâs had him for a super long time. Not common that someone wins BigEq finals on the same horse that they won the Onondarka on (a Pacific Coast 3â medal for riders 12/u).
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I also wonder how many riders have won a final on their birthday. Iâm sure somebody could figure out the statistical odds, but I bet it is a small number.
Definitely. I read an article about her where her dad made it clear that Copper was it as far as eq horses goâno fancy leases, no upgrading every year, etc. If she wanted him, she was stuck with him. Clearly worked out in her favor!
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Did she own Alant for awhile? She didnât show him too much and I remember one final where another person ride Alant.
Did she own Alant for awhile? She didnât show him too much and I remember one final where another person ride Alant.
Yes Alant was her second equitation horse for the lower medals. He was sold so she could get a jumper. Alexandra Worthington leased him for the finals the same year Elli won the Washington Eq finals.
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Did anyone ride the gochman girls horse? Doesnât look like she rode in the finals.
Which one? They have 2-3, maybe 4 eq horses. Class Action was with them for a while, might still be. As is Kaskade, the bay mare. Mimi rode Hero (forget what his full European name is, lol) for this final. Sophie did not show.
It seems incredible that both of the Gochman girls are still juniors, considering how long theyâve been doing it. But they did start very young.
Every time I see Natalie Jayne ride I have the same reaction.
